MORE than 30 homemakers, the majority of them women, in the Salt Spring community of St James are now better informed on how to manage their financial resources, thanks to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Lasco Chin Foundation (LCF).

The homemakers were treated to a tw0-day training session held at the community’s Peace and Justice Centre last week.

According to programme manager at LCF, Paul Irving, Salt Spring was one of 12 communities identified by the foundation for special attention in light of their socio-economic status.

“Although the programme mainly targets youth, parents and caregivers were especially targeted for this intervention because they would be able to influence the young people within their households who are considered most at risk for becoming victims and/or perpetrators of crime and violence,” explained Irving.

“This particular programme began in July of this year and will continue to May 2023 with the target of engaging 600 parents and caregivers of youth aged 10-24 in 12 target communities. The intervention seeks to determine how parents and caregivers see their youth as an investment to the household and how they manage their income.

“For instance, they might get money from overseas but they do not see it as income, so we try to help them with information on how to manage it properly,” added Irving.

Training facilitator and a lead presenter on asset training, Shauna Todd said a key subject area was on lending and borrowing money, “and how we communicate the use and importance of money with our family members”.

Todd noted that the participants were also encouraged to teach younger members of their families how to save.

The USAID and LCF team was pleased with the positive response from participants who acclaimed that the information and advice they had received would be useful in their daily lives.

All participants were issued with certificates of participation.

The USAID Positive Pathways Activity in Jamaica is a five-year, multi-parish, violence-prevention activity.

Through a community-driven approach Positive Pathways strengthens the capacity of parents, caregivers, and communities to leverage economic and social resources to prevent youth violence, while establishing pathway programmes to support youth at risk of involvement in crime and violence.

The 12 communities selected under the USAID Positive Pathways Activity are known to be volatile and would significantly benefit from the type of training being offered to them, which includes other areas such as parenting and conflict resolution being conducted by the various partner agencies under the USAID programme

The other 11 communities are Flanker and Norwood in St James; Jones Town, Hannah Town and Denham Town in Kingston and St Andrew; Naggo Head, Gregory Park and New Land in St Catherine; and May Pen, Effortville and Palmer’s Cross in Clarendon.